


Second is the Best

by jmdancer296



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-17
Updated: 2012-09-17
Packaged: 2017-11-14 11:23:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/514720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jmdancer296/pseuds/jmdancer296
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story behind Peeta getting second place at the school's wrestling competition. Written for day 3 of the Prompts in Panem challenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second is the Best

It could easily be said that Peeta had trained as a wrestler his whole life. He spent his whole life in his family’s bakery. Unloading, stacking, tossing and handling, countless hundred pound sacks of flour a week. He had more muscle at 10 then most boys at 12. And although he wasn’t the tallest guy out there, he definitely was the strongest. 

More than that, however, he was the youngest of 3 boys and although Wheaton, his oldest brother, never fought with him, there was a countless number of times Rye, the middle Mellark son, and Peeta were found in the bakery, on the floor, covered in flour and bruises. It was the easiest way to sort out problems. Rye wasn’t much of a talker, and he was even less of a listener, so at a very young age Peeta learned the best way to make his point was to make Rye succumb to listening— and the easiest way to do that was by pinning him down. 

As he got into the upper grades, it was obvious that Peeta would follow in both of his brothers’ footsteps and join the wrestling team. While Wheaton wanted something outside of the bakery to take part of, and Rye was just in it for the girls, Peeta found it a good way to let out his emotions, and an excuse to pummel Rye to the ground without getting into trouble, and beatings, at home. There was no surprise that he made it to the final match of the wrestling competition in school, and there was even less of a surprise that his opponent was the one he wrestled with the longest, his dearest brother Rye. The surprise however, was that Peeta did not win first place.

As Peeta overtook Rye and forced him to the mat, keeping his older brother in a headlock and pinning him down for what seemed to be the thousandth time in his life, Peeta was suddenly distracted by a dark skinned, dark haired, silver-eyed beauty that walked into the gymnasium. This was Katniss Everdeen. This was the girl he had loved since the moment she sang the Valley Song in class at the age of five, when she still wore 2 braids instead of one. That moment of distraction was enough for Rye to flip the both of them, pinning Peeta, who was utterly confused, and winning the whole competition. But Peeta didn’t care, because he saw the disappointment cross her eyes, so he allowed himself the little glimmer of hope that she cared for him in some way or another. As his brother got up and cheered for his victory, Peeta did the one thing he could think to do. 

Katniss found herself staring at the golden locks and bright blue eyes of the youngest Mellark for years since the incident under the apple tree near the bakery. This boy, so young and so scared, burned two loaves of bread, and probably his fingers, as well as took a beating, so that she, her dearest sister, and her mother could eat for the first time in days. She never said thank you. Today she was going to show her gratitude. Today she would tell Peeta how much she admired him. Today, Katniss hoped that she would make the joy of winning the wrestling competition even better by talking to the boy with the bread. 

She walked in just in time to see Peeta make his final move, pinning Rye in a headlock. If only he had not looked up. If only she had looked down. If only they had not made eye contact at that very moment. Rye flipped the both of them before Peeta had a chance to recoil. She had just cost him the wrestling match. She had just ruined everything. As Katniss hung her head and walked away, the sound of Rye’s joyous screams in the background, she felt a warm, sweaty hand on her shoulder and reveled in the fact that the strenuous physical activity had not wiped away the sweet, honey smell of her boy with the bread. 

“Hey,” he said quietly. Even his voice was like honey she realized as she slowly looked up into his beautiful blue eyes. 

That day did not go the way anyone had expected it to go. No. Peeta never expected to get a silver medal instead of gold. Katniss never expected for Peeta to be the one to start the conversation. But neither minded the events of that day, for that day brought them together. Now, as the watch their son wrestle in that very same gymnasium, they remember that Peeta winning second place unfolded the events that brought them to this very spot. Maybe they were right as kids, singing stupid little songs, maybe second really is the best.


End file.
